Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CROWDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A boiler failure at the Roanoke County school dropped classroom temperatures into the 60s and prompted students to stay bundled up in class.
According to Allen Journell, the assistant principal, the problem was discovered about 5 a.m. Monday when the custodian arrived. By early afternoon, the heat was working, and classrooms were beginning to warm up. The normal classroom temperature is about 70 degrees.
``We evaluated it soon after we got here,'' Journell said. ``It was not so cold that we thought we should waste a day of school.''
He added that some students did go home for the day, but said he expected today to be a normal day.
The cold snap affected others, too.
Joy Sylvester-Johnson, director of development of the Rescue Mission of Roanoke, said more people than usual came to the shelter over the weekend, many wanting clothing vouchers for coats, gloves and other winter apparel.
According to Sylvester-Johnson, 123 people stayed there Saturday night, including 17 children. The normal number for this time of the month is 100 to 110. She said there usually are fewer people at the shelter at the beginning of the month because people have just been paid.
Paris Beach of the Salvation Army's Red Shield Lodge for the Homeless said they usually have about 25 people, but housed about 30 over the weekend.
The temperature in Roanoke dropped to 10 degrees Monday morning, with a wind chill of 18 below zero, said Kane Galleo of the National Weather Service in Roanoke.
In the New River Valley, the morning low Monday was 4 degrees with a wind chill of 30 below zero, according to Jeff Stewart of the National Weather Service in Blacksburg.
by CNB